WITH the onset of autumn as leaves prepare to fall, we are given a seasonal reminder of what a wonderful, eye-pleasing asset the trees in our community are as the splendour of them in full foliage is soon to disappear for months.

How sad, then, it is for any of this glory to be needlessly lost for good.

And that widely-held sentiment lies behind the campaign among Clitheroe residents to halt the felling of 41 large trees surrounding the keep of the town's ancient castle.

The council wants to chop them down to improve the outlook. It also says the trees are diseased and decaying.

The campaigners disagree. They say the trees should be spared and maintain that none is so diseased or damage that felling is justified.

But whichever viewpoint is more sound, should not the situation be fully explored and discussed before anything is done? That's the democratic way.

Yet, bizarrely, the council says it will listen to what people think after more than half the trees have been axed. What sort of consultation is that?

Anyone looking for logic in the council's explanation of this approach is bound to be stumped. It says it wants to "reinforce its commitment to residents and communities in the Ribble Valley" and so reminds people that after 23 of the trees have been chopped down that they will have a "period of assessment and reflection on the impact of the removals."

What patronising rot!